Best film opening?

[Bloodstain]

The opening to "Apocalypse Now" is amazing.
The symbolic rotating helicopters, The Door's "The End" in the background...just...everything.

 

[Uzi-Bazooka]

The First 30 seconds of Scott Pilgrim VS The World. After th 8-bit Universal logo and the line "Once upon a time...in the mysterious land...of Toronto, Canada", I knew that I loved that movie (which has since become one of my favorite films).

 

[JackandTom]

A couple of good ones have been said but for me I still think all of the James Bond films have amazing openings. I love each and every one of them but my favourites are Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Living Daylights, Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved me and Die Another Day (seriously, if the rest of the film was as good as the first half, then DAD would have been one of the best). These two are probably my over all favourites though;

 

[Kpt._Rob]

What do you think was the best film opening? I really liked Watchmen's opening, with the montage of various scenes throughout the vigilantes' history and Bob Dylan's The Times They Are a-Changin' playing in the background.

I have to completely agree with you on this. My brother had been telling me for a long time that I needed to watch Watchmen, but often I find I don't really like the movies he loves (he likes a lot of James Bond and Borne Identity stuff, which I find hopelessly boring) so I just couldn't feel anything but luke warm about the idea of watching it. But one night I was really high and Watchmen came on on HBO, so I said "eh... I guess I could give it a shot."

By the time that opening was done I was so excited to see the rest I could barely contain myself. Every part of that movie is so damn good it's not even funny, but that opening really draws you in and sets the perfect tone. It'd be pretty damn hard to beat.

 

[Blunderboy]

Already mentioned are the amazing openings to Watchmen, The Dark Knight and Lord of War.

I'll also offer you this.

The whole first scene of Inglorious Basterds.

 

[Mid Boss]

Without a fucking doubt.

I was JUST thinking about this one but I couldn't remember the name of the movie.

 

[afroebob]

The best three in recent memory for me are The Dark Knight, Inception and Star Trek (2009). Unfortunately for Star Trek the scene right after the opening (the car chase) was stupid a fuck, but the opening scene was fantastic, as was every scene after the second.

 

[HardkorSB]

"Casino Royale" had a good one:


So did "Die another Day":


I like the opening to "Cube" too:

 

[TheFade]

The opening to Spaceballs is probably the best I've seen.

 

[Phlakes]

i'm tempted to nominate the opening to Star Trek 2009.

its maybe not the best ever (i would have to spend a much longer time thinking about a hell of a lot of films) but it really grabs you by the seat of the pants in a way i haven't felt in a very long time, tosses you around and doesn't let go til its finished with you.

i think that opening is practically the backbone of the reboot.
it made everyone in the theatre sit up and pay attention to what followed.

i pretty much got my quite solidly "not interested in Star Trek" brother to watch the entire film by saying "just watch the opening..."

...although this was a little underhand on my part as he has a young toddler so as soon as the pregnancy aspect came in i knew he was gonna pay at least some attention due to recently becoming a dad

by the end of the opening sequence he was pretty much welling up

in fact i think i'll go watch it now

This was the first thing that came to mind. It's definitely not the best, but it's the perfect way of letting everyone who wasn't already interested know that it's not about a bunch of people with rubber foreheads sitting around a table for two hours.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

The opening of the Dawn of the Dead remake entirely justified its own existence in my humble opinion.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Simplicity is sometimes a thing of beauty.

 

[Scentedwiind]

Not technically the opening but I think it should count as the opening of the film proper. Lawrence of Arabia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ1Y-RgSVcU

 

[Scarim Coral]

I wouldn't say this is the best but it definitly one of my favourite!

I just love the score and the whole splitting mirror theme they got going on.

Ok this one is abit similar to above in term of the score but I like the montage showing the previous Justice League movies (which lead me to thinks that they are within the same countinity).

 

[Shinsei-J]

Men Who Stare At Goats,
the starting scene made me laugh from the get go and set the whole film up perfectly.

 

[Templarixx]

Already mentioned are the amazing openings to Watchmen, The Dark Knight and Lord of War.

I'll also offer you this.

The whole first scene of Inglorious Basterds.

I have to say that of all of the openings, Inglorious Basterds is my favorite.

 

[MidnightSt]

I can't help it, the openings I love the most are those that completely blow me away, transport me to the movie's world instantly and make me forget about that whole "reality" thing in a second. Who has the time to pay attention to it anyway?
(Also, the exact definition of an "opening" is a tricky one, consider approx. first two minutes of the video in this case).

(The best from my recent memory, anyway.)

 

[Jingle Fett]

What do you think was the best film opening? I really liked Watchmen's opening, with the montage of various scenes throughout the vigilantes' history and Bob Dylan's The Times They Are a-Changin' playing in the background.

That's funny because when I read the title Watchmen was the first thing that came to mind

Most of the ones I would have said have already been mentioned...Star Wars Episode 3, that beginning sequence entirely justified the movie for me. Star Trek 2009, 2001 Space Odyssey, Scott Pilgrim,


Of the ones not mentioned yet Saving Private Ryan had one bloody hell of an opening.

Also the Sucker Punch opening was really awesome and really set up the movie (say what you want about Zack Snyder but he does know how to make great openings).

Oh and The Life of Brian.

 

[MidnightSt]

Oh and The Life of Brian.

oh, yes, and that! Wouldn't say "the best", but "the most hillarious" for sure.